


Kith And Kin

by ProfessorFlimflam



Category: Holby City
Genre: Berena Final Countdown, F/F, Family, Fix It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:48:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22174330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProfessorFlimflam/pseuds/ProfessorFlimflam
Summary: Bernie is finally done with grand gestures, and leaves Holby with a smile and a salute on Jason’s wedding day. But when Serena tries to explain it all to Greta, she is confronted with one or two awkward questions.
Relationships: Greta Haynes/Jason Haynes, Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe
Comments: 26
Kudos: 100
Collections: The Final Countdown





	Kith And Kin

“Don’t be angry with Cam - I made it very difficult for him not to give me your flight details.”

Bernie swung round, startled at the sound of that familiar voice, and in the process nearly took Serena out with her backpack.

“Sorry, I - what? Serena, what are you doing here?” Bernie was a little wild eyed. There were still a good two hours before she was due to board, but mentally, she had already left Holby far behind her, perhaps for good this time. But here was Serena, large as life, sounding brisk and determined, with only the wringing of her hands indicating how nervous she was.

“I threatened Cameron with a six month secondment to Obs and Gynae if he didn’t spill the beans about your movements - he’s terrified of Fleur for some reason.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Bernie muttered darkly. “Never mind Cam - why are you here? I thought you wanted a clean break.” Try as she might, she could not keep a note of bitterness tingeing her voice.

“I didn’t say that. It was you that decided to leave without a proper conversation, walking out during Jason’s wedding when you knew I couldn’t very well leave. And it’s you that hasn’t replied to my texts - again. I decided it was my turn to make a grand gesture - though I have to say I’m glad you’ve not made me run through the terminal to catch you at the gate.”

Serena was teasing, but there was steel in her voice. Bernie sighed, and put her bag down. “Okay, okay. Fine. It was me that wanted a clean break, if we had to break at all. I couldn’t bear the thought of hanging around and packing while you were there, all the awkward silences and apologies.” She looked around the concourse at the bright colours, the busy forced jolliness of the sales staff, unable to reconcile her emotions with the surroundings.

“Look, Serena, what do you want? Why did you come?”

“To talk - and for you to listen. Can we sit down somewhere?”

 _I have measured out my life with coffee spoons_. The phrase drifted into Bernie’s thoughts, and she shook her head to dismiss it. They sat in a coffee shop: no medicinal pastries to sweeten things today. She looked at her watch.

“I haven’t got long. What did you want to say to me?”

Serena took a deep breath. “Greta asked where you were, after the wedding. I took them home to pick up their things, and I drove them to the station. Greta was surprised you weren’t driving.”

Bernie frowned. “Why are we talking about Greta?”

“We’re not: I am. I need you to listen, please. She thought you’d be driving because - well, I don’t know why, to be honest, but she asked where you were. I told her you’d already gone, that you were going back to Nairobi.”

***

_”Without saying goodbye to Jason? That’s rude. She is she coming back?”_

_Serena busied herself with the luggage, and said as carelessly as she could manage, “She isn’t. She’s staying over there, and I’m staying here. We decided it was for the best.”_

_When she turned round, Greta was standing staring at her._

_“How can it be for the best when you love each other? Jason and I want to be together a lot of the time - not_ all _the time, but most of it. Don’t you want to be together any more?”_

_”Oh, Greta, don’t worry about it now - you’ve got a honeymoon to go on! Come on, let’s get this lot in the car.” But Greta was not to be sidetracked, even on her wedding day._

_”I don’t understand,” she said. “I thought you were going to get married?”_

_Serena gave a double take that Charlie Chaplin would have envied. “Married? Whatever gave you that idea?”_

_“Bernie did, of course. The first time I met her, I thought she was your wife, but she said, ‘Not yet.’ That means she was expecting to be your wife later, obviously.”_

_Putting the suitcase down slowly and carefully, Serena straightened up. “You mean she said we weren’t married. That’s all.”_

_“No, she laughed a little bit and said ‘Not yet’ - definitely. She didn’t even hesitate. That’s why I didn’t want her to treat me - because she’s family. And after you said she wasn’t, I asked Nurse Jackson about it, because it was very confusing. She lives with Mr Griffin as though they were family, and she told me about found families. Even if Bernie isn’t family by blood, she’s part of our family. She’s Guinevere’s aunty, and so are you. That makes her family.”_

_Greta’s tone was characteristically matter-of-fact, almost casual, but the import of everything she was saying rang through Serena’s mind like a well struck bell. Bernie had thought they would be married? Even back then, when they were already living continents apart, and struggling to communicate? She shooed Greta into the car, and called Jason to hurry up and get the baby buckled in, but once she had seen them off on the train to Cardiff, she drove not home, but on to the cemetery._

***

“That’s where they all are, you see - my family. Every last one of them.”

Bernie stared at her aghast. “That’s how you think of your family - as gravestones? What about Jason? What about Guinevere? Serena, your family doesn’t come to an end with you. That’s why you had to stay, isn’t it?”

She had stayed tight lipped all the time Serena was talking, but she couldn’t bear to think that Serena thought of herself as the withered limb of a dead tree. Her heart broke a little more at the idea of Serena standing in the cemetery between the graves of her parents, the sister she hadn’t known and her only child, and she reached over the table to grasp her hand.

“Oh, don’t be so bloody _understanding_ , Bernie, I can’t stand it! Yes, that’s why I thought I had to stay, and that’s why I couldn’t think of you as family - because that’s what happens to my family. I know it doesn’t make sense, I know it’s illogical, but there it is. Well, there it was. But you know what, if Greta, who takes everything so very literally, can understand the concept of found family...”

She had run out of steam, and Bernie leaned back a little, but she didn’t let go of her hand.

“So where does this leave us, Serena? What’s really changed? Or did you just need to explain it to me?”

Running her thumb across Bernie’s knuckles over and over, Serena shook her head, unable to meet her eye.

“I know I’ve messed you about, again and again, and I know that I’ve done things that hurt you, and I’ve no right to ask anything of you, not any more. But I need you to know that I do think of you as my family - that you _are_ my family. And I wanted to ask you -“ she faltered, and finally looked up to meet Bernie’s kind but grave gaze. “I - I want to ask you, but I’m scared of what you’ll say.”

“So don’t ask me, not yet.” 

A long silence held them, but somehow Serena felt that they were communicating more clearly now than they had ever done. The clatter of crockery at the counter broke the moment, and she looked down at their joined hands.

“Will you let me ask you, one day?”

Bernie didn’t answer for a what felt like a long time, but when she did, it was with a little smile.

“If I don’t ask you first.”

Serena didn’t know if the sound that escaped her was a laugh or a sob, or a little of both. With one last squeeze, Bernie drew her hand back. “They’re calling my flight,” she said softly. This time, it was definitely a sob, and Bernie was quick to clarify.

“I’d better let them know I won’t be on it,” she said, and stood up.

“But your luggage,” Serena said. “You’ve already checked in?”

“I have,” Bernie replied, “but not with luggage - this is it,” she said, lifting her little backpack.”I was only going to tie up the loose ends - I quit, remember? I was going to come back in a couple of days’ time, no point taking anything back to Nairobi.” She shrugged, and Serena stared at her, mouth agape.

“You were coming back anyway? I didn’t need to drive here like a maniac?”

“I think it’s a good thing that you did,” Bernie said gently. “I think it matters. I so wanted you to come after me at the wedding. I know why you didn’t - couldn’t - but I’m glad you came now.”

“You’re sure about staying? You don’t need to go and pack, or sign things off?”

“There’s nothing there I can’t do without, and nothing I can’t sign off remotely. I’ve burned those particular bridges - no point going back to sweep up the ashes. There’s only one thing I need now, and that’s to be with my family.”

She held out her hand, and Serena took it.

“Come on, Serena. Let’s go home.”


End file.
